1,1,1-Trichloroethane is a known compound which is commercially used as a solvent.
There are several known methods for preparing the compound. The most common methods comprise chlorinating chloroethane (or 1,1-dichloroethane) with chlorine under special conditions. For example, Haefner et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,019,175) teach that chlorine reacts with 1,1-dichloroethane in the presence of actinic light and in certain directive chlorination solvents (e.g. CS.sub.2) to produce 1,1,1-trichloroethane.
The problem with such prior art processes is that they produce acidic by-products (such as HCl) and considerable amounts of 1,2-polychlorinated ethanes in addition to the desired product. Such contaminants are undesirable and have to be removed, typically by acid scrubbers and a distillation step. Economically, the 1,2-polychlorinated ethanes thus produced are undesirable because the commercial market for them is currently quite small.
A need therefore exists for a method of manufacturing 1,1,1-trichloroethane essentially free of 1,2-polychlorinated ethanes.